The Wine Guide

Hemenway serves up wine by the price

Chef Lisa Hemenway will have an eye to budget wine when she opens “Fresh,” a European market of sorts, at the Skyhawk Village Market space in Santa Rosa on Hwy12 in September.

Fresh — which will be a café, a grocery store and a wine tasting bar in one — will serve wine by the glass beginning at $5. Retail bottles will also be grouped by price, with a low likely to begin at $12.

“The average person doesn’t want to pay more than $5 to $7 for a glass of wine,” said Hemenway, who added that the economic downturn has made wine drinkers very choosey.

Categorizing wine by price is a smart move, especially when you have someone like Hemenway calling the shots. She’ll definitely be discerning when she picks what value wine to pour.

Will Hemenway’s venture take off? As for the risk involved, Hemenway joked that it was like jumping off a cliff. But on a serious note, she said there are plenty of foodies and wine geeks who will no doubt frequent Fresh because this part of town “only has Café Citti and Roberto’s, with nothing in-between.”